The new datacentre, located 5km south west of Melbourne, was officially opened on Wednesday night by Next DC founder and deputy chairman Bevan Slattery, Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and new Next DC CEO Craig Scroggie.

Published: July 6, 2012 -- 05:54 GMT (22:54 PDT)

Photo by: NextDC

Caption by: Josh Taylor

​Computer-room air conditioners in one of M1's service corridors.

The facility is 17,500 square metres, delivering a 12MW ICT load. The facility has six data halls within a large concrete bunker. The datacentre boasts bullet-proof security, and dual- and triple-factor encrypted challenge and authentication systems.

Published: July 6, 2012 -- 05:54 GMT (22:54 PDT)

Photo by: NextDC

Caption by: Josh Taylor

​Hot aisle rack containment in Data Hall 2.

Slattery said that M1 is the largest independent datacentre in Melbourne, and one of the largest in Australia. He said that it is also one of the most energy-efficent datacentres, boasting a target power-useage efficiency of 1.35.

Published: July 6, 2012 -- 05:54 GMT (22:54 PDT)

Photo by: NextDC

Caption by: Josh Taylor

​Slattery showed off under-floor cabling in Data Hall 2.

NextDC has invested AU$80 million in the M1 datacentre to date, including AU$1.2 million in a 400kW solar array that, when installed, will be fitted to the roof of the datacentre to offset carbon emissions.

Published: July 6, 2012 -- 05:54 GMT (22:54 PDT)

Photo by: NextDC

Caption by: Josh Taylor

​Diesel-rotary uninterruptible power supplies (DRUPS) have been installed to provide uninterupped power to the datacentre in the event of a power failure from the main electricity source.

Companies such as iiNet, M2 and NTT have already expressed interest in moving into the M1 datacentre.